St. Louis Rams tackle Rodger Saffold was on the ground several minutes before being removed on a stretcher. As team staff tend to him, head coach Jeff Fisher (far left) consoles center Robert Turner (59).AP Photo

DETROIT - St. Louis Rams tackle Rodger Saffold was taken to an area hospital for a CT scan which head coach Jeff Fisher said he believes is precautionary in nature, and the coach expressed hope that the lineman would be home soon - perhaps as soon as his teammates.

"There's a chance he'll come home with us," Fisher said after the Rams' 27-23 loss to the Detroit Lions today at Ford Field.

Saffold, the Rams' third-year left tackle from Indiana, was placed on a stabilizing board and removed from the field with 9:45 remaining in the game.

He stood, then crumpled, after breaking contact with Lions safety John Wendling on a pass play with which the Rams took a 20-13 lead with 9:45 left.

Saffold fell face down and medical staff worked gingerly to turn him onto his back and onto the stretcher. He was down for several minutes as teammates formed a prayer circle on the Rams sideline.

Saffold demonstrated movement in his extremities before he was removed from the field.

Rams players were shaken by the injury.

"You always know it's serious when the stretcher comes out," said quarterback Sam Bradford, who threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson on the play when Saffold was injured. "You just hope and pray that everything's going to be OK. Especially, I know yesterday there were a couple of hits in college football. One kid, I think, broke his neck. You know, that's scary. You hate seeing things like that happen. Hopefully, everything checks out OK and Rodger will be back with us."

Running back Steven Jackson agreed.

"You just pray that he's going to be OK," Jackson said. "Whatever the situation is going to be, we hope that he has a speedy recovery and we're able to get him back home."

The Rams played much of the fourth quarter without the two starters on the offensive left side, Saffold and center Scott Wells, who left with a foot injury after being limited for much of training camp following knee surgery. Guard Rokevious Watkins also was injured late in the game.

The Rams did their best offensive work in that fourth quarter, when they gained 113 of their 251 total yards.

"You hate to lose two starters," Bradford said. "But you look at what we did in the fourth quarter and that was probably one of our best quarters moving the football. And that was with both of those guys out of there."